This is a fair and honest post, but I don't think we can afford to see how things go for too long.

To be honest, we're not looking like a play-off team this season. If there was still relegation and if Celtic weren't involved in SL, we'd be facing the drop again this year. Two big ifs there, I know, but it illustrates the point of how poor we've been in the league.

There has been improvement under Noble - but it's been painfully slow and painfully slight in my opinion. On top of that, there are the many flaws in Wigan's basic game that we still see repeatedly each week, not to mention the lack of motivation for most fixtures. It doesn't fill you confidence in the coaching.

There's also the time-factor. If IL is genuinely looking for a new coach for next year, he ought to have started the ball rolling by now. He may have done, he may not - we don't know. But he can't hang on until the end of the year and see where we finish, because all the other deals will by then be done and we'll be reduced to picking up scraps.

I suppose that if by some miracle we went on to win the CC and the GF, we'd have no option but to re-think and offer Nobby a new contract, but at present we don't look like winning either.

To turn us from a relegation team he had to bring in Dobson & Fielden, the latter at great cost. That cost is still showing on the salary crap.
With little money they brought in a number of players "who could do a job" for us. That was to keep us mid table until players OOC left and freed up money under the SC. The players who he brought in were not trophy winning players.
In 2009 we have bought our first real quality player in Martin Gleeson since Ian Lenagan bought the club . Rumours about Matt Orford are around and whatever we think about his age he is a player of real quality. If Gleeson & Orford are the quality we are now identifying then we are at last on the right path.
We have all been frustrated at the teams losses but with better quality players now being sought and bought IL & Brian Noble are showing they are taking us forward.
Noble won't now be going to the Roosters as Arthur Beetson has be recruited as the "Mentor" for Fittler, the role suggested for BN.
I would still be quite happy for Noble to be given another two years at Wigan, that's if he wants it!

The team we have now has a majority of players on either signed under Noble or who got new deals under Noble. In other words we have been happy to keep on many of the so called "players who could do a job". We won't be going on a major recruitment exercise for 2010 because there aren't enough out of contract players who are on big wages.

I think recruitment under IL and Noble has so far been pretty poor. We recruited Roberts a year ealry when we didn't need him and Riddell is not setting SL on fire is he? These players are on current form also middle of the road players but we took them on for 4 and 3 years. respectively.

Gleeson is a class player but is stuck on the side of the pitch we never play to. He is supposed to be on a high wage so why not go for the enforcer prop many want or replace Barrett? To me recruitment looks haphazard with players bought because they were available (Roberts in particular but also Gleeson perhaps) instead of based on a master plan.

As to Noble its about time people realised 2006 is well in the past and Noble needs to be judged on what he has done since then. The job of saving us from relegation was done and thanks very much but it is no reason to give him a new deal if we continue as we have done since.

Dave

This guy has taken us to 4 semi finals in 3 years so its an improvment of what we had before.

Some who do not like Noble for whatever reason cannot see that

Noble's folksy style gets tiring pretty quick. And there's that monotone delivery which threatens to affect excitement but never quite gets there. I mean, when the Beeb hired both him and Millward they were far better than what was around at the time. But Nobby needs to go, soon.

Im not Noble's biggest fan, but this is getting very petty now.

On current form neither are setting SL alight. But when their signings for Wigan were officially announced I didn't hear anyone on here saying they were 'poor signings'.

I still don't think Roberts is a poor signing - alot of work he does go's un-noticed by many.

I also think that aswell with Roberts, he's looked better in his first season than what Richards did and remember how alot of fans would of been happy to have seen Richards go to Wakefield? Give them enough time at least.

The funny thing is if we won something it would only just paper over the cracks that have been appearing down at Wigan in recent years.

We make 2 playoff semifinals in 2 seasons and that papered over the problems we had then.

Ian Lenagan doesn't seem like a man that moves quickly, so i think Nobby is here to stay till atleast the end of his contract.

They have had plenty of time. Why do people keep mentioning Richards who was played out of position in a team coached by Millward that was in a poor state? It's just not relevant IMO as an example of if you give players time then they will come good.

Players like Roberts and Riddell who are experienced NRL pros should hit the ground running as the vast majority of our overseas signings have always done and not need half a season to settle in.

Dave

It's three isn't it and how many did we win?

We won two playoff games to get to the semis in 2007 & 8 and capitulated in the CC semi in 2007. As someone else posted all these semi final appearances did was paper over the cracks.

They playoffs were par for the course under Noble, win two games, lose the next.

Dave

They've only had half a season! All players are different, they can't all make the same impcact that Trent did. I remember Lam and Craig Smith took a full season before they showin their true quality, they were even more experienced in the NRL than both Roberts and Piggy.

I think I've been fairly consistent in my appraisal of Riddell all along. I CBA digging it out but I did post before his signing words to the effect that anyone expecting a world beater was in for a disappoinment.

What do you mean "only"? It is more then enough time to be up there as two of our best performing players. They are both ex-NRL pros not wet behind the ear kids.



I am not suggesting they would make the same impact as Trent and simply mentioned him as an example of a player that, once his injury cleared up, was up to speed right away. And I think you are wrong about Lam and C Smith in terms of it taking them a season to settle in but even if you are correct this means (for example) when we sign a player on a three year deal we only get two decent years out of him. When we sign overseas players taking up precious quota spots that is not acceptable IMO. We need such players to turn up and add something to the side right away not dilute the strength of the side while we wait a season for them to do so.

Dave